Painful Memories
by moonslayer339
Summary: In an odd twist of fate, Keith's parents send him to live with the Taos in their will.Can he survive En Tao's treatment?Or can he manage to get on the Tao family's good side?....I do not own Shaman King but I do own my OCs.....
1. The beginning

"I told you not to touch that, you damned boy!" growled Tao En furiously.

The seventeen year old male glared directly back at the man yelling towards him. By this time, it seemed as if the tension between the two of them just shattered. En smashed the body of Shinamora against the wall of stone.

"GRAH!" yelped Keith painfully.

En seemed to enjoy hearing the tormentful yells of pain from the teenage shaman. He always had since Keith's father had passed away and sent him here to live with him and his family. He was disgusted about how close his only daughter was getting to the pathetic excuse for a fighter. At the time he then noticed that the fighter had rose to his feet, the Tao glared at him angrily and ordered a few corpses to get him out of the chamber before he killed the poor boy. Keith fought off the jiang-shi and walked on his own two feet outside of the large home before his legs gave out. The shaman grimaced as he pulled his legs to his body and sat crossed legged against the porch post.

"How can he just do that?" he snarled to himself before noticing an orb.

The ebony tinted orb floated alongside the shaman's wounded form slowly. The crimson optics glinted in the sunlight and soon looked towards a jaded haired woman. Silently, Keith tried to stand only to fall badly and remained seated.

"Damn it!" he yelled angrily.

"Keith, what did my father do now?" asked Jun softly.

"What do you think?"

"Sorry I asked."

"Jun, I'm sorry. I'm just in a lot of pain at the moment."

"I can see that in your facial expressions."

Keith looked towards her and shook his head slowly. He couldn't figure out why Jun seemed to care about him, and it bothered him slightly as well. His eyes shifted about to look towards the moon above them. Without having paid attention, his hand slipped onto hers softly as they sat together. He soon felt her skin beneath his hand and removed it swiftly as he stood roughly on his unbalanced legs. A grimace formed upon his face before the orb transformed into a large ebony pelted werewolf form.

"Master Keith, I purpose that you just sit and rest before you get killed by En," uttered the wolf being gently watching him closely.

The spirit's shaman turned on his heels swiftly and stalked off towards the darkening forest at the large penthouse's north direction. Keith soon found out that walking was harder now that his blood was being lost ten times as fast. Beyond the trees a river appeared to his vision before he collapsed at the bank's edge. His eyes closed steadily awakening his once dormant memories.


	2. Keith's memory

A young child ran across the grasslands of his old homeland. A larger male figure watched the boy frolic and play around with the wildlife surrounding the small house. The child laughed happily before it happened. The once calm and enjoyable day turned into a horrid nightmare for the young boy and nothing would be the same after the event. The scent of blood grew strong while the boy ran from the burning house having heard the yells of his mother and the defensive remarks by his father.

"Dad. DAD!" cried the boy as he ran closing his eyes tightly.

The kid was scared half to death and leapt into the tree limb above his form as he heard running footsteps moving down the pathway he had taken. His heart rate had been significantly increased, as he remained silent watching the men run by him from below. A thought crossed his mind suddenly, and he swiftly jumped down moving back to his home to stand in horror. To his surprise his parents were no more. Blood covered every single blade of grass in a circle of three yards round the two corpses. The young child approached the two cold forms only to collapse to his knees crying out to the sky above as the thunderous clash of thunder rung throughout the valley.

"No!" he yelled at the top of his voice.

The tears the child had shed soon began to blend in with the droplets of rain water that hit his face from the heavens. It was as if the sky was mourning the loss of the two beings that lay dead upon the mud soaked ground. The lightning lit up the evening sky after the boy had crawled beneath the branches of an old sycamore tree to shield himself from the cold rain. That evening the boy had vowed to find the men responsible for the slaughtering of his parents.


	3. Reality and Dinner with the Taos

"Keith? Keith? Wake up," muttered a female's voice.

"Hmm?" muttered the shaman before he opened his eyes.

The facial features soon appeared to Keith's eyesight as his optics began to focus in. He instantly turned his head away from the Tao kneeling alongside his body. Without thought, he cursed lightly and tried to stand. Jun shook her head and allowed her jade hair to fall down over her shoulders as she moved to her feet. She looked seemingly concerned about her old friend. In many ways he could worry her beyond belief and it happened to be one of those days again. She calmly placed her arm under his left arm and shoulder to keep him steady as he stood. Keith felt her movements and sighed giving up, allowing himself to use her to lean upon. He often wondered if it was worth even arguing with Jun. Every time he tried, he was only wasting his breath and own self effort because she was usually right.

After a bit of walking, Keith slumped off of Jun's shoulder to sit and rest upon a chair. His nerves had yet to calm and settle down only causing him to be rather jumpy all of a sudden. The older Tao sibling sighed gently before walking off to find a few wrappings and such to help tend to his wounds. Once she returned, she started to get to work forcing him to calm down and allow her to clean his wounds out with hydrogen peroxide.

"GRAH!" he yelped lightly not expecting the solution to be poured on his gashes.

"Hold still Keith. The more you wriggle around the worse it shall get." she retorted sternly.

"Fine, but take it easy will you?" he countered sorely.

With his last remark Jun looked up to him with her purple optics narrowing a bit as if a warning. He gulped before laughing nervously trying to play off the glare. It barely worked but Jun ignored his protests and continued her work. The bandages were bound tightly by the time dinner was just about done and ready to be served. Bailong appeared in the entranceway of the main room to look at the two teenagers.

"You two are wanted now, Miss Tao," uttered the corpse.

"Thank you Bailong." replied Jun softly, before glancing to Keith carefully.

Bailong bowed and walked off into the shadows. Shortly after he had gone, the familiar pointy haired sibling appeared. Golden eyes flashed dangerously in Keith's direction as if begging to have a chance to hurt him up even more. Alas, he was not allowed his chance due to the appearance of his elder sister. Ren rolled his eyes and crossed his arms before his chest calmly.

"Jun, why waste your time with him anyway? I see no valid point." he uttered.

"Ren, butt out will you? It's none of your concern as to what I choose to do with my time," she countered, eyes narrowing darkly.

"Oh, really?"

"Really, little brother." she snapped coarsely.

As the two siblings went into even more conflicted conversations, Keith sighed and slowly forced his legs to function correctly. He left the room before he was dragged into the verbal fight. How he managed to survive the passed two years he would never really know but he asked himself that question many times. The shaman snapped out of his thoughts as he came across the lady of the household. His body made the effort of bowing but he couldn't bend his back in the least.

"This is pathetic." he growled at himself lightly.

"Don't over exert yourself Keith." uttered Ran's voice calmly.

"Hmm, Oh? Ran."

"Come on, boy, before you really hurt yourself."

He sighed listening to her words before deciding that she had a good point. She smiled faintly and walked with him to where the feast was assorted on the table. Two male figures were already there drinking sake and exchanging words with one another. One was completely bald headed, obviously Jun and Ren's grandfather. Ching. Keith's eyes diverted to the floor upon seeing En's face grow dark at his presence. Ran sighed shaking her head and giving her husband and look as if pleading to put his differences with Keith aside at the table. En huffed haughtily glancing away from the boy. Ching looked over to him as well with a smug smirk upon his lips. The elder seemed to enjoy the boy as if he were a part of the family.

"Well Keith, it seems En really did dig into you today eh?" he uttered.

"Yes." replied the shaman slowly.

It seemed that was all that was said by Keith that evening. The minute after Jun came in with her brother was at the time he got silent. It seemed to be a very awkward dinner that night. Barely, anyone spoke during the course of the meal. After Keith walked away, though it was more of a limp than a walk, Ren moved in to speak with him in quite a hostile manner.

"What do you think you're doing anyway?" snapped the Tao darkly.

"Ren, stand down before you get yourself hurt insulting me." snapped Keith in reply.

"The only one here who will get harmed is you! You are nothing but scum!"

" I gave you a fair warning." stated the shaman warily.

Ren moved swiftly to swing at the elder with his fist only to see himself land on the floor of the living room-like chamber. Keith stood over him with a foot in the middle of his back.

"I warned you." he uttered calmly.


End file.
